Mazars, a global accounting firm, will cease working with the crypto industry. The exit of the French firm from the cryptocurrency markets comes as customers and investors demand greater transparency of the cryptocurrency exchanges they use following FTX’s bankruptcy.
Investors are turning their attention to the largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, after the latter delivered a report last week by French accounting firm Mazars that fell short of showing the financial state of the exchange.
Mazars Group has suspended its work not only for Binance, but for all crypto clients globally. The accounting firm recently assessed Binance’s Proof-of-Reserve positions, and found Binance’s Bitcoin holdings were over-collateralized. Binance’s proof-of-reserves did not reveal all of the exchange’s liabilities.
KuCoin, which had a Proof of Reserves report from French accounting firm Mazars released Dec. 8, is open to working with any reputable auditor, according to a spokeswoman.
Mazars Group has been on the front lines of the cryptocurrency exchange industry’s scramble to perform what is known as “proof-of-reserves,” such as Binance and other major exchanges since crypto exchange FTX went down in November.
Binance Coin (BNB), the native token of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, responded to the news by falling more than 5.2% Friday, and is now trading around $243, according to CoinGecko. After Mazars Group announced that it will be cutting ties with Binance, as well as with other clients, the value of BNB, or Binance Coin dropped sharply.